Lunch and confessions
by FrancescaBoscorelli
Summary: AU in which Sherlock and Joan are together while the events of episode 1x10 took place. Companion to "Arguments and trust issues".


**A/N: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing my last Joan/Sherlock stories. I had the greatest time writing them, I can't stop really. Anyways, you know how this works, Joan and Sherlock together as a couple, being sweet and in love. **

**Don't forget to review!**

_**Note: Spoilers of episode 1x10.**_

**Fran**

* * *

"Enjoy brunch with your mother," Sherlock spoke. She turned around briefly, watching him as he stood in the middle of the room, staring at papers and photographs glued to the wall in front of him. "I hadn't realized you were still so eager to impress her"

"What do you mean?"

"You're dressed like you're going to a job interview, not lunch with a loved one"

She stared down at herself quickly. She was wearing a mini blue dress with a long sleeve blouse, dark tights and high heels. She wasn't trying to impress her she was trying to look nice.

"I'm not," she responded, "I'm just… happy to spend time with her"

"And you're a terrible liar," he stated, "you might be happy to see her but you're also nervous beyond reason. I wonder why."

"No reason," She told him. After a minute, she looked down at the floor and sighed, "Other than I haven't told my mother about us"

His head snapped towards her, frowning as she spoke. He didn't look upset, he was merely surprised.

"You haven't? Why?"

"I don't know how! My mother is difficult. She wasn't very happy when I told her about being a sober companion. Imagine what she's going to say when I tell her, I'm dating one of my clients."

"Oh…" He nodded slowly, concentrating on the pictures again as he balanced on his heels back and forth.

"Its not that I don't want to, Sherlock," she told him, "I do. I just don't think she will understand…"

"Of course, I get it," he told her, though he couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice. It broke Joan's heart. "You better get going. Don't keep your mother waiting."

She nodded, turning around and walking away with a slow pace, sighing as she stepped out if the house.

.

.

.

Her mother talked about her brother and how he wanted to have dinner with them, soon.

"Tomorrow night?" Joan asked her mother. The woman nodded slowly

"Mom you know about my job right? I can't just leave my client alone."

"This is your brother, Joan. Can your client get a different babysitter for tomorrow night?"

"Babysitter…okay, here we go" Joan whispered, looking down at her plate. She knew the speech about not having the right job and leaving her career aside was coming soon, after all that's why she had stopped talking to her mother for a while. "I didn't mean it that way…"

"I know,"

"I'm just worried about you, Joan" he mother spoke. Joan had to control herself not to roll her eyes. "Leaving medicine like this, changing your life style, your whole life to take care of drug addicts. Why? There's so much you can do"

"Well I like this," she snapped, "I like my job, I like being with Sherlock. It makes me happy. I thought that's what you wanted"

Her mother watched, stared at her with a deep frown in her face. Joan knew she was reading her, the way she had spoken about Sherlock, how her cheeks had suddenly turned a soft shade of pink at the mention of his name. It had never happened before, she noticed, though she had never spoken about Sherlock in front of her mother.

She knew she had said too much, but she also didn't want to stop or correct herself because there was no point. She didn't want to hide things from her mother anymore. So if she were to ask, she was going to give her the truth.

"I know working with people like him makes you feel better with yourself…"

"Its not just that," Joan interrupted her, "Sherlock is… he makes me feel different. He's not just a client. He's more. He's way more."

"More?" Her mother's frown because deeper and Joan shifted on her chair, feeling like a little girl who was about to be grounded "What do you mean more?"

"We're together" Joan said quickly, making eye contact with her mother while she still looked confused "as a couple, mom. Sherlock is my boyfriend"

"You're dating a drug addict?" Her mother snapped, people around her looked at them, intrigued by their conversation.

"He's not a drug addict anymore. He's clean. He has been for months now," she told her mom, anger rising slowly within her, "and you can save the 'he's not right for you' speech because it won't work. I love him, and, yes, he has made mistakes but, he has changed"

"I only don't want you to make mistakes again, Joan," her mother told her calmly.

"I'm not making any mistakes. I never did. Only to you they were"

"I'm your mother, I have all the right to be worried"

"Yes, and as my mother you're supposed to support me not judge me"

"I'm not…"

Before the conversation could continue any further Joan's phone rang, this tome she didn't ignore it for she knew it was Sherlock. She never noticed how much she needed to get away until he had told her they should meet.

.

.

.

When they met at Sing Sing prison, Sherlock was waiting for her outside, pacing at the entrance. He greeted her with a smile, and she reached immediately for his hand once they were close.

"How was lunch with your mother?" he asked her.

"It was…good, I guess"

"You guess? It went that bad"

"I told her about us," she spoke quickly. Sherlock hands tightened around hers.

"What did she say?" he asked her, though by her tone and her reaction he knew it hadn't been a good one.

"She's…not very happy," she told him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Don't be. She might be my mother but she can't control whom I love, okay? So let just forget about that lunch ever happened and let's solve this case, shall we?"

"Maybe if I talk to her…"

"No Sherlock, just don't okay?" She interrupted him, "It's fine. She'll get over it soon. There's no need for you to speak to her. Just leave it alone"

Before he could respond, she walked in front of him, straight into the prison leaving Sherlock alone with his thoughts.

.

.

.

"I'm not okay with this" Joan spoke. Sherlock, fascinated by the painting hanging on the wall, barely looked at her while she spoke

"You don't like where it's hanging?" he asked her

"You stole a fifty million painting!" Joan protested

"I did not steal it; I'm just delaying its return," Sherlock answered, "if I'm going to spend the rest of the evening reading court transcripts I might as well do it in the company of a masterpiece"

"Well, you're gonna take that back to the Aster Museum first thing in the morning…" Her phone rang. She looked for the where the sound was coming from, the fireplace "What's my phone doing there?"

Looking at the screen and picking it up, she moved a few feet away and greeted the man in the other line with a cheerful hello.

"Hey, Oren."

_"Joan, I'm so excited to see you,"_ her brother spoke _"I miss you, sis."_

"I miss you too, but didn't Mom tell you? I'm on a job."

_"She did, but I just got your text. It said your coming."_

"From me?" She turned around sharply, eyeing Sherlock suspiciously who pretended to ignore her.

_"Yeah, you're coming to dinner. You're bringing your boyfriend? Mom told me you were seeing someone…"_

"My boyfriend? No, I…"

_"Oh come on Joan! Tell me you'll be there. I'm looking forward meeting your man."_

"Uh…I…yeah," she sighed heavily, "yeah yeah I'll be there"

_"We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"_

"Okay, love you, bye," she hung up her phone and took two long steps towards Sherlock, who was still engrossed with the painting (or so he pretended)"I put a lock code on here to prevent you from sending out texts."

"I was hired to breach The Leviathan. Do you think I wouldn't be able to get to your phone? You know me better, Watson. Being together for so long…"

"Yeah well you're not gonna meet my family, I told you not to get into this. So no, you're not coming with me."

"Wasn't your idea to tell your mother about me? You can't take it back, its too late"

"You just want to meet my family to put them under a microscope"

"No, I want to meet your family because its the right thing to do, since we're together it would be proper for them to meet…me"

"That's…"

"Now if you excuse me, I have a transcript to read" he took a sit on the couch, grabbing a big thick book and opened a few pages. Joan stood there for a few second before giving up her argument and going to bed.

.

.

.

He had told her he wouldn't be able to make it to dinner with her family. She was partially relieved he didn't, not because she didn't want him to meet her family but because she simply wasn't ready, just having told her mother that same day was a bit too much. She wasn't ready to deal with her brother as well.

Much to her surprise when she arrived Sherlock was there, laughing with her family as he told them one of his many stories.

"Joan, you're here. Excellent," he spoke, standing up from his seat as she walked towards the table.

"I was just telling your family about my work."

"Hi there," she greeted him. He grinned and winked at her.

"This lovely lady here is Gabrielle" he spoke as a woman across from her stood up as well, "your bother's girlfriend; soon I expect fiancée"

"Its so nice to finally meet you," the woman spoke, "Oren talks about you all the time"

Joan smiled, allowing Sherlock to pull out her chair for her to sit down. She took a sit next to him, noticing how he had purposely moved his own as to be closer, their knees touching under the table.

"Joan, is it true you helped prove the CIO of Canon Ebersole had a secretary who killed five people?" Oren asked her, obviously amazed by his sister's work and the information Sherlock had shared with them.

"Uh not really. I just helped a little," she told him.

"She was instrumental in solving that case," Sherlock interrupted, Joan noticed how he seemed to speak directly to her mother, as if it were crucial for her to know what he was trying to say "She also went to trouble for saving my life. Quite promising detective in her own right"

"I'm not a detective; I'm just along for the ride."

"You're being modest," Sherlock spoke again, this time he stared at her while he spoke "that's not the only case she has helped me solved; mine, would be the bigger one. I can't only imagine what it entails to help rebuild lives from the ground up, like my own. When we first meet I was in the middle of self-destruction, drowning in self-pity. Until she reached out, held my hand and pulled me up. Teaching me how to love in the process. She saved me, and she keeps doing it, time and time again. I owe her everything I am now; a better man

Joan stared him, speechless for the first time in months. Her mother was watching him with awe too, too stunned to say something, probably sorry for judging him wrong, and for judging Joan wrong as well.

Joan's mother watched, as Sherlock reached for Joan's hand gave it a light squeeze. She had been mistaken; her daughter was in love and Sherlock was a good man after all.

.

.

.

"I know you're gonna blow this off" she spoke on their ride to their home. Sherlock was concentrated at staring at his phone, but side glanced here when she spoke "but I'm gonna say it anyways; what you did back there was really sweet. The sweetest thing I've heard you say about me so, thank you"

"Yeah well I meant what I said" he responded, turning his head around to look at her "I know my audience, I told them what they needed to hear"

"Okay…" She whispered, looking outside the window

"They're nice people, your family, and I know you're mother is very conventional" Sherlock spoke again "I'm certain her daughter dating a former drug addict would sound very appealing to her, so I tried to summon what I felt. I was merely being honest"

"Well you did a very good job" she told him, flashing a wide smile at him. He reached for her hand, intertwined their fingers as she moved impossibly closer "thank you"

"You're most welcome, my dear Watson"

She gave him a sweet tender kiss on the lips before resting her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes slowly.

.

.

.

She was cleaning the kitchen late at night; Sherlock had decided that they needed to celebrate another case closed which ended up both eating not a very healthy dinner and a steamy make out session in his room, when the door bell rang. Sherlock opened the door while she washed the dishes. She eavesdropped when she heard him talking to someone.

"Sorry to bother you, Mr Holmes," Joan's mother greeted him politely, "I was hoping I could speak to my daughter?"

"Yes, of course. Let me get her…" He walked a few steps away until she grabbed his hand, making him stop midway.

"I need to apologize to you, Sherlock," she spoke again, "I was wrong into thinking you were not good for Joan. I saw the way you looked at her at dinner, the way you spoke about her, and that told me you must care about her a lot."

"I love her" he spoke quickly, surprising Joan's mother and Joan herself with how honest he sounded "I was completely honest with what I said, she saved me. She became the only one I could ever trust, the one who keeps me grounded. You're daughter is the greatest woman I've known and the only one I've ever truly loved."

Both women were taken aback. Joan's mom for how sincere he sounded about his feelings for her daughter. And Joan because he had never said he loved her to anyone else, especially not her mother.

She shook her head, walking towards the entrance as Sherlock eyed her, she greeted her mother pretending she never heard them at all.

.

.

.

Late at night, when Sherlock lay on her bed, naked bodies tangled between the white sheets, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest smiling contently. She heard him say the exact same words again. This time she could hear them clearly,

"I love you."

THE END!

**love it? hate it? let me know!**


End file.
